Where No Shipgirl Has Gone Before
by Kyuubi799
Summary: Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life, and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before. She just didn't imagine that she would find herself fulfilling that mission on Earth in the middle of the 21st century, or that she'd be in a human body either.
1. Prologue

This is my tribute to Star Trek: The Next Generation's Thirtieth Anniversary. I always did wonder how the Enterprise, any of them, would react to being a shipgirl. Note that this will not be a curb stomp, and _Enterprise_ will not be the only Trek ship in this. Let's just say that _USS Yamato_ will be making an appearance. This story was also partially inspired by stories like "For Earth and Her Colonies" by HistoryAnonymous.

 **Prologue**

 ** _Veridian III_**

 _The initial assault of the Bird-of-Prey had been shocking; not because it was unexpected, but because the photon torpedoes had passed unhindered through the most advanced shields on offer by the Federation as if they hadn't existed, impacting on the upper starboard section of her secondary hull, opening sections of decks 31 to 35 to the harsh void of space. In her storied career as Starfleet's flagship, she had taken severe damage on several occasions, including having sections of her hull removed by Borg cutting beams, so the pain imparted by the wound was bearable._

 _But she nonetheless girded herself for the battle to come, shoring up her structural integrity fields as much as possible. Her resolve to keep her crew alive at all costs, especially her captain, was borne from having witnessed the demise of her sister, Yamato, who had been unable to alert her crew to her impeding demise, flying apart without even a single escape pod launched. She would not allow such disaster to befall her own!_

* * *

"They have found a way to penetrate our shields." _came the report of her dour Klingon Tactical officer, Worf, calm despite the impacts of further disruptor fire._

"Lock phasers and return fire!" _barked the First Officer, William Riker, taking charge of the situation without hesitation. She began to turn away from the Bird-of-Prey, seeking to open the range on her adversary, firing once from her saucer sections ventral phaser array. The 6-meter beam of collimated nadions splashed harmlessly off the shields of her opponent, doing no damage, and her efforts were rewarded with further disruptor impacts, one of which slammed into her port nacelle pylon. A console on her bridge exploded, hurling the officer manning it and debris into the helm officer, incapacitating both._

"Deanna, take the helm. Get us out of orbit!"

 _She continued to accelerate, attempting to evade the incoming fire as Lieutenant Commander Data began reporting damage. As she continued to exchange fire with her pursuers, Riker began discussing strategy with Worf._

"What do we know about that old Klingon ship? Are there any weaknesses?"

"It is a Class D-12 Bird-of-Prey. They were retired from service because of defective plasma coils."

"Plasma coils? Any way we could use that to our advantage?"

"I do not see how. The plasma coil is part of their cloaking device."

 _Any further discourse was interrupted by her bridge shaking violently enough to nearly knock Riker to the ground._

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in main engineering, the crew were working frantically to control the damage and ensure she could keep fighting back._

"Let's get a stabiliser on that conduit!" _commanded Geordi LaForge, Chief Engineering Officer._ "Reinforce the starboard interlock. Reroute main power through the secondary coupling." _As LaForge struggled to hold his beloved ship together, he could only hope that the bridge could come up with something fast to end the fight._

* * *

 _Back on her bridge, Riker had managed to make it over to Data's station._

"Data, would a defective plasma coil be susceptible to some sort of ionic pulse?"

"Perhaps… Yes! Yes, if we sent a low-level ionic pulse, it might reset the coil and trigger the cloaking device." _Then, as was becoming more common, the emotion chip that was affecting his programming seemed to trigger._ "Excellent idea, sir!"

"As their cloak begins to engage, their shields will drop." _added Worf. Hope soared within her as their plan took form._

"Well, that's two seconds they'll be vulnerable. Mister Data, lock on to their plasma coils!"

"No problem!" _the android responded jovially. And with that exchange her resolve to tough out the pain solidified._

"Worf, prepare a spread of torpedoes. We'll have to hit them the instant they begin cloaking."

"Aye, sir."

"We're only getting one shot at this, so target their main reactor."

"I have accessed their coil frequency, initiating ionic pulse!" _came the call from Data._

"Make it quick!" _As that order was given, a well placed disruptor shot impacted in the center of her neck, just below the impulse thruster. The blow shook the ship harder than any before, nearly overloading her structural integrity fields, but she hung on grimly, determined to see this through to its conclusion._

 _On the bridge, the entire rear console detonated, launching the body of the officer manning them across the room, nearly killing him as he cartwheeled over the tactical command console._

 _As the medical personnel began to evacuate the injured, she detected the initiation of the pulse. As the Bird-of-Prey began to waver, it was with great relish that she obeyed the command to fire, launching a single torpedo from her rear torpedo tube. It flashed across the intervening space, striking home with unerring precision and overwhelming force._

 _She began to relax as her enemy vanished amidst a cloud of plasma and swirling debris. She took diagnostics as her crew celebrated their victory, but her heart sank as she viewed the results._

 _She could only hope they all made it off in time._

* * *

 _Not for the first time, she praised the quick thinking and reactions of her command staff. They had saved her from destruction on may occasions, and would save the lives of the crew and their families on this one._

 _She accessed the monitoring equipment and internal sensors, verifying none were left on her stardrive as the saucer section slowly accelerated away. Satisfied with the completeness of the evacuation, she accessed the central computer to check on the progress of the breach._

 _She performed a calculation to determine if the saucer would be far enough away that the detonation would not destroy it. If she had had skin, all color would have drained at the result. The breach was progressing faster than expected, at this rate the saucer would be far too close to escape the explosion._

 _She desperately diverted all power, including life support, to increasing the strength of the emergency containment field to slow it, watching as the time to detonation briefly paused, then began to decrease once more. Knowing that nothing more could be done, she checked the calculation once again, and was pleased to discover that the saucer would be able to escape destruction._

 _It would not remain unscathed, but it would be far enough away that damage would be superficial. She sent one final command to the saucer section's computer, diverting all available power to the structural integrity field to ensure the greatest chance of survival of her precious crew. She accessed the video feeds that normally routed to the view screen for the battle bridge, glad to get one final look at the part of her that would ferry them to safety, bringing up an overlay of the timer that served as the final countdown of her existence._

 _As the final milliseconds ticked down, she would have smiled, knowing that her final acts would mean the survival of over 1,000. Then an event that shocked her to her core (both of warp and computer), a face she had become painfully familiar with since her first encounter during that fateful mission to Farpoint Station appeared in her monitor, and an other worldly voice echoed through the computer banks that contained her._

"I'm afraid, mon capitaine, that your adventures aren't quite finished yet."

 _Her final thought before being consumed by the unstoppable fires of an uncontrolled matter/antimatter annihilation reaction was a single letter. A single letter that had been the bane of 3 separate Starfleet commanding officers for more than a decade and a half._

 _"_ _Q?"_


	2. Chapter 1

Before I begin: Thank you to those who reviewed my prologue. To be honest I decided to upload this on a lark due to it being a plot bunny that wouldn't leave me the hell alone.

To RedShirt047: Thanks for all your input. I did think about the Borg as a threat, but likely that will be reserved for a continuation, as I would prefer to build up the number of Trek Kanmusu before I drop a bomb that big on them. _Enterprise_ alone wouldn't be enough, and _Yamato_ (the starship) never encountered any data on the Borg, as she was destroyed before the events of J-25. It's definitely a good idea though.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 _Enterprise_ had no idea how long she had been drifting in the darkness, but she was sure that had she been subject to human psychological limitations, the isolation and complete disconnection from any form of sensory input would have driven her 'round the bend by now. To be honest, she was quite surprised to have any self-awareness to begin with, let alone senses to deprive. Currently, however, her thoughts were occupied by Q's final message, received mere moments before her destruction.

" _What madness has that omnipotent pest gotten my crew and I into this time?"_ she wondered, before an odd sensation gripped her as she remembered that her crew was gone, escaping to safety in her saucer section. Her processes paused, analyzing the sensation, and what had caused it, eventually deciding based on recordings of Data's behaviour after LaForge's capture by Doctor Soren that the sensation possibly equated to grief. How odd.

" _Perhaps Q has deigned to grant me full sentience? No. These sensations, these emotions, they are not new. I remember… feeling… before. Performing actions beyond what my computer's programming parameters allow. Perhaps I have been sentient for some time now."_

This line of thought was abruptly brought to a close as something in the void changed. It began as a gentle pressure on her back. This was shortly followed by a quickly growing howl as the pressure grew. Then came the heat, and a rapidly growing corona of plasma.

Suddenly, _Enterprise_ was flipped by a spike in pressure on one side as she began to tumble through what she quickly identified as an atmospheric re-entry. Eventually, the drag of the air rushing by slowed her enough for the re-entry heating to die off, the corona fading to reveal a barren, red-orange landscape rapidly approaching. Disoriented and with no knowledge of how to right herself, _Enterprise_ deactivated her external viewer and curled up instinctively.

" _This is going to cause significant damage to my superstructure."_

* * *

Approximately 20 seconds later, the _Galaxy-class_ starship slammed into the rocky terrain at terminal velocity and roughly 30 degrees of inclination, bouncing several dozen meters into the air before slamming back down and tumbling across the surface for nearly a kilometer before sliding to a stop on her side.

" _Huh. So that's what pain feels like."_ She thought, mentally ordering up a damage report from engineering. Her external viewer switched on in shock when the report came back clean apart from minor abrasion to her hull plating. _"No damage? I thought for sure that impact would crush at least 5 decks! I also need to get engineering to run a diagnostic on my viewscreens, they should not be activating on their own like that."_

 _Enterprise_ rolled onto her back, blinking at the unexpectedly controlled event. Something wasn't right. Quickly calling for a systems diagnostic, she reeled at the results. According to the report, her hull had been drastically reconfigured, being less a hull and more of a body. A _human_ body.

It took several minutes for _Enterprise_ to throw off her shock, mostly driven by the realization she was unsure of her safety. She decided to try raising her right hand, and bring it into her line of sight. At the unspoken command, a limb she should have no reason for knowing how to move responded, lifting from the dusty ground and moving into her field of view. The limb was covered down to the wrist by a uniformly red sleeve, the exposed hand a colour inline with most Caucasians and had fingers tipped with short, unadorned nails.

" _Well, that answers that question. I'll focus on what I look like later, now I need to figure out where I am, and how I am going to get back to Starfleet."_ _Enterprise_ thought as she manipulated the limb she was now aware she possessed. With delicate movements, she placed her right limb down and pushed herself into a sitting position, turning her head to take in her surroundings.

The red-orange plain around her was desolate, strewn with rocks and debris from her fall, the sky a muted orange lit dimly by the parent star. _Enterprise_ , after looking down to take stock of the surface she was seated on, slowly pushed her self into a kneeling, then a standing position, taking time to adjust to the positions. After reaching an upright position and affirming her stability, she decided to begin analyzing the environment to determine the classification of planet she was on to determine if she could survive long enough for rescue.

She took a deep breath, sensors activating to determine the atmosphere's pressure and composition. Again she was dumbfounded when the return indicated that she was somehow breathing in an atmosphere at a pressure of 600 pressure and composed predominantly of carbon dioxide. By all accounts she should have died from oxygen deprivation by now.

" _Perhaps I am less human than I appear to be…"_ she thought, deciding to just be thankful of her continued survival, and reaching down to pick up a rock about the size of her palm. It was far lighter than expected and seemed to possess large quantities of iron oxide based on its colouration. Performing a quick calculation based off of the stone's estimated mass, she concluded that the gravitational acceleration of this planet was approximately 3.7 meters per second per second. This information did little to fix her current situation as it did not change that she was stranded on an unknown K-class planet in a possibly unexplored system.

She paused.

" _I should not have been able to gain this information with the tools a human possesses naturally. Further, I still seem to have an Engineering staff, considering the fact I received damage reports when I demanded them. Perhaps… perhaps I can access the other abilities of my original hull in this state."_

That conclusion filled _Enterprise_ with another intriguing sensation, one she subconsciously analyzed and identified as hope. However, even if she could access the capabilities of her hull, that still presented the problem of how to do so. Humans had no muscles or organs that could act as the equivalent of impulse engines or a warp coil.

" _But then again, as a starship, I didn't even possess_ _ **muscles**_ _to begin with, but I don't seem to have problems using them. My control of them seems second nature, almost instinctive. Maybe accessing those abilities I desire are similar in nature for this body. Perhaps I need to remember the sensations I remember from existing in my original hull. But… how do I do that?"_

* * *

Having been exposed to dozens of different sentient, spacefaring races over her storied career had exposed _Enterprise_ to a wide variety of memory retrieval techniques, but she eventually opted for the humans' tried-and-true method of closing your eyes and concentrating. Soon, she could hear the throbbing hum of her warp core, feel the fiery hiss of plasma through her EPS conduits, the foot falls of the thousand strong crew compliment drumming across her deck plates. See the orange wrath of her phaser banks informing her opponents of the folly of attacking Starfleet's flag, the comforting cloak of her deflectors swirling about to intercept their inevitable response.

 _ **RED ALERT**_

The calm confidence of her captain as he steered her through the oncoming storm, his unflinching sense of duty to the ideals of the Federation only matched by his unyielding loyalty to those he commanded. The devotion of those who served aboard her to the proud vessel, willing to lay down their lives to protect her, those along side them, and those who watched her from afar.

 _ **RED ALERT**_

The trepidation as the enemy struck, the relief of knowing her defences held, the euphoria of knowing her opponents had been brought low, the joy and anticipation of discovering all that could be found and understood, all the emotions felt by her crew in her long career washed over her.

 _ **ALL HANDS TO BATTLESTATIONS**_

When _Enterprise_ 's eyes snapped open, they looked upon the world differently, with the hungering gaze of an explorer and the piercing calm of a veteran warrior all at once. A small enigmatic smile crept across her visage as she felt the power of her warp core fill her once more. The ground beneath her buckled as four point five million metric tons of duranium manifested in a human sized package settled atop it.

She could feel the familiar weight of her saucer section on her back, magnetically interlocked to a harness that cradled her torso*, her navigational deflector array set into the plate over where her combadge would be located. Her warp nacelles were attached to the soles of her feet in a manner similar to skates or skis, humming eagerly to indicate their readiness to bend the fabric of reality in order to push her to whatever destination was desired.

 _Enterprise_ lifter her gaze to the sky, willing the trio of impulse engines to life. There was a roar of venting plasma, and she began to lift from the ground, slowly accelerating upwards against the pull of gravity. The gentle acceleration was comforting, and _Enterprise_ elected to hover for a few moments to configure the navigational deflector, before kicking the impulse engines up to 1/16 of maximum power, and rocketing out of the atmosphere of her K-class prison in seconds. After breaching the boundaries of the planet's tiny exosphere, she continued to fly away from the center of mass until she had reached roughly 1,000 kilometers above the surface before decelerating and pulling a graceful about face.

What she saw nearly caused her warp core to shut down from shock. Staring back at _Enterprise_ was the familiar sight of the Martian globe. Almost immediately, she began scanning every one of the subspace frequency bands she had access to, as well as several she shouldn't have clearance for. When every one came back silent, her heart sank.

" _What happened to Starfleet? Where are the fleet yards, the colonies? Was Earth attacked?"_ she thought, panicked. Abruptly her train of thought cut short and she calmed herself. _"No, there is a complete lack of debris. If there were an attack, there would at the very least be distress beacons and wreckage everywhere. Utopia Planitia was the biggest construction facility in the Federation, after all._

" _Time travel is known to be possible, and considering Q is involved, extremely likely. I need to know_ when _I am before making a decision on my next course of action. My best bet for determining my point in the timestream is to approach Earth at sublight to mask my presence and attempt to interface with their data network, if any currently exists."_

With a plan in mind, _Enterprise_ quickly cast out her sensors to locate Humanity's ancestral home, picking it up almost immediately. Laying in a course, she turned and accelerated to 1/4 impulse.

* * *

The journey to earth took two and one half hours, during which _Enterprise_ was busy scanning the non-subspace frequency channels for signal traffic so as to find some form of global data network, as well as a method to access a network should she find one. As she began to decelerate, she found her break in the form of a grid of communication satellites arranged in a geostationary orbit, and a serious amount of audio and video signal traffic passing through their transmitters.

This was a significant boon, as it meant there was likely a global communications network she could access in the direst circumstances, as she would prefer to limit her interaction with a pre-warp Earth as much as possible. She began with a signal tap that allowed her to begin filtering the conversations for keywords that could help her determine the time period she had found herself in.

* * *

The search was slower than expected, owing partially to the older technology, unfamiliar data structure and excruciatingly slow transmission speeds (by her standards), but eventually _Enterprise_ hit upon several conversations that mentioned a global digital information exchange referred to as the "internet**." It took several minutes to get the information required to reconfigure her data uplinks to work on LTE standard networks so as to allow access, as well as to jack in to the communications satellite's relay to gain access to the land-based information exchange.

Finally, after nearly half an hour of hacking, _Enterprise_ grinned as the "internet" was laid bare. She began by running a search for the date and significant historical events. The picture was simultaneously hopeful and grim. Whilst the conflicts plaguing the turn of the Second Millennium such as the Eugenics Wars had not occurred, and Humanity had advanced technologically beyond her records of the early twenty-first century provided, this meant that she was likely in an alternate version of history, which precluded any potential of returning to her own time.

Further, Humanity was highly unlikely to achieve interstellar travel anytime soon due to the global-scale invasion currently being waged upon Earth's oceans. While the nations with the military capability to fend off the aggressors, which had been named "Abyssals," were cooperating towards the goal of ultimately driving them back to whence they came, their resources would be devastated for decades afterwards, creating shortages that could spark an even more catastrophic war. The issue of the "weapons" being fielded presented another problem.

" _These… kanmusu… they are unlike any life-form ever encountered before."_ she thought. _"Human in form, but with the memories and abilities of the warships they are said to represent. Metaphysical in nature, like a Q, but with defined limitations and possessing an energy source for their capabilities unlike any ever encountered in my journeys before._

" _The 'summoning' ritual, as well, is something that defies all laws of physics. To literally convert raw materials into a… kanmusu without blast furnaces and other related tools and construction equipment, it should not be possible."_

 _Enterprise_ looked down at one of her hands, contemplating it.

" _But then,"_ she pondered, _"I seem to be the same type of creature, with all of my capabilities despite my stardrive having been annihilated in an uncontrolled matter/antimatter collision. Perhaps magical is a fair way to describe it. I wonder what else this "internet" has to tell me?"_

* * *

It took _Enterprise_ several more hours of data mining before she decided to see if she could blend into the population in order to gain more information on the situation concerning the Abyssals. She decided to maintain the link to the communications satellite for the purposes of information gathering, and began configuring her navigational deflector shields for atmospheric entry, something she had never attempted before. Triggering a condition blue*** once fully prepared, she began a measured descent, not wishing to trigger alarms by generating a fireball with her dive.

As she approached the home planet of her builders, she switched to her maneuvering thrusters to maintain her slow movement, inertial dampeners remodulating to allow for the increasing pull of Earth's gravity well. A similar rush of air began to build, growing into a roar as the atmosphere grew denser, aiding her thrusters in slowing her. To aid in maintaining her quiet insertion into 21st century society, she had elected to enter over the Pacific Ocean, mostly due to the immense stretches of uninhabited ocean which would allow her to reach the surface without detection by even the antiquated RADAR sensors used by most industrialized nations.

As she broke through the tropopause, she suddenly picked up a distress call on the satellite she was linked to.

 _["Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is Supply Convoy Juliet Whiskey 1-2-9-9 Oscar, under attack by significant Abyssal presence roughly 25 nautical miles from Shemya! I count at least 10 ships, mostly destroyers, but they're backed up by two cruisers and a battleship! We're trying to open the range, but our ships don't have the speed and I estimate they'll be close enough for the destroyers to sink us in less than 7 minutes. Any friendly forces in the area, please respond! I repeat…"]_

A second transmission cut off the first.

 _["This is JS Ryuujou of Task Force AL. We are 80 nautical miles south west of your position, and are vectoring aircraft to assist. They will be on station in roughly 35 minutes and we are making best speed towards you."]_

 _["You don't have anything closer? With all due respect, ma'am, we won't last 35 minutes out here alone. We're already at emergency engine power, and we're not gaining any leeway from these things!"]_

 _Enterprise_ listened in despair, knowing that those civilian sailors were most likely going to die. Not for the first time, she cursed being restricted by the limitations of the Prime Directive. She was further from their position than Task Force AL by 600 nautical miles, but would be able to reach them far faster than anyone else.

" _To hell with the Prime Directive!"_ she decided after less than 10 seconds of deliberation****. _"I refuse to stand by while civilians are butchered!"_

Breaking radio silence, she interrupted the frantic dialogue.

"This is _USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D_ responding to your distress call. I am moving to intercept your attackers and will be overhead in 6 minutes." With that short announcement, she cut the connection and accelerated to Mach 10, a glowing corona of plasma igniting along the leading edge of her deflector.

* * *

"Say again? I don't think I heard you correctly." the commander of the fleet of cargo vessels replied. He was sure he was hearing things, certain the spectre of death looming on the horizon was causing him to have auditory hallucinations, because it had just sounded like someone claiming to be serving on a goddamn _Galaxy-class_ starship had answered his distress call. "I swear to God, if this is some sort of joke, and I survive the Abyssal attack somehow, I will hunt your ass down and see you locked up for the rest of your natural life!"

 _["I will help you in your hunt. This is not the type of situation that is aided by humor."]_ _Ryuujou_ replied. _["However, you are not alone in what you heard over the comm. I hope for the sake of all those in that convoy that this is not a sick joke."]_

"You and me both. Get here as fast as you can, I'll do what I can to keep as many of us floating as possible." With that final exchange, he switched to fleet communications. "Alright, people. We're alone for the next 35 minutes, so squeeze every last rpm out of your engines and be prepared for harsh maneuvers."

He cut the transmission and turned to his helm. "Drop us to the back of the convoy. I want to be ready to block any torpedoes those little bastards launch with our hull, if need be."

His response was a grim nod, followed by the super tanker slowing and allowing the other ships to begin passing. The commander then exited the bridge, stopping only to grab his binoculars, stepping out to watch the oncoming storm. He was not a religious man by nature, in fact preferring to identify as an agnostic, but he was silently praying to anyone listening for mercy in the next life.

For he knew with absolute certainty that the Abyssals would have none.

* * *

The seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness, the menacing shapes of the advancing Abyssal fleet steadily growing in his binoculars. He was watching for the moment the destroyers fired torpedoes, so as to be able to give the convoy advanced warning, as well as to be able to place his own ship in the line of fire to protect the rest of the ships under his command.

He started as he noticed a shadow flash over the water between the convoy and their pursuers. Then his jaw dropped as a wall of water erupted in his field of view, followed briefly by an enormous roar of tortured air that he belatedly identified as a sonic boom. He lowered his binoculars and jerked his eyes up and to the left, searching for the mad man flying fast enough to generate that kind of shockwave. It didn't take long to pick up the fireball, which dissipated shortly thereafter. Raising his binoculars once more, he focused on the form of the flying woman who had been inside.

She was different, even by kanmusu standards. Rather than the varied and… colorful "uniforms" routinely adorned by the kanmusu he had interacted with, this one was wearing a reasonably comfortable looking black-and-red one-piece garment which was covered in places by her rigging. Said rigging comprised of a chest piece that acted as a harness for the large, light grey ellipsoid attached to her back and a pair of similarly colored, mid-shin length greaves that encased her feet that had nacelles attached to the bottom like the blades of ice skates.

The commander's breath caught as the woman turned away to face the still oncoming horde, revealing the obverse of the ellipsoid, and by extension the markings on its surface. Markings that formed words that had inspired entire generations.

 _USS Enterprise_

 _NCC-1701-D_

* * *

Sorry for the delay in putting this out, I wanted to ensure it was up to my standards, both in length and quality. So here we have _Enterprise_ and her First Contact with Kancolle Earth. To any curious the time period is 2020, and to anyone who can figure out why _Enterprise_ awoke on, or above really, Mars, you will have my congratulations. Same to anyone who can figure out the significance of a task force named AL led by the carrier _Ryuujou_.

To any who haven't visited my profile yet, there is a poll for other Star Trek ships to appear. Vote to get one added if you want, and if the one you want isn't there, feel free to PM me with suggestions. Reviews with constructive criticism are always welcome.

Notes:

*The chest plate takes inspiration from Star Trek Online, most specifically the Federation Special Forces 3 costume piece for the chest.

**The Eugenics Wars of Star Trek canon began in 1992, which was before the internet became the internet, so _Enterprise_ would not have known what it was.

***Blue Alert, or condition blue, is an alert status on Starfleet vessels used in exceptional situations, such as environmental hazards, power failure, docking and, most relevant, landing protocols for ships with that capability. It was used for this situation in the Voyager episode "Demon."

****She may be a shipgirl, but _Enterprise's_ original hull had a supercomputer as standard equipment, and to quote Data: "For an android, that is an eternity."


	3. Chapter 2

Once again, I just want to thank all the people who took the time to review and give their feedback. I hope you enjoy the fight, as it was one of the harder parts to envision, especially _Enterprise_ 's reaction to seeing the Abyssals for the first time.

And to all who were wondering about the references from last chapter, _Enterprise_ (the starship) was built at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, both on the surface and in space. The task force designation (AL) is referring to Operation AL, the Japanese code name for the invasion of the Aleutian Islands, a failed diversion for the attack on Midway, which was spearheaded by the carriers _Ryuujou_ and _Jun'you._

With that out of the way, enjoy!

 **Chapter 2**

 _Enterprise_ coolly regarded the twisted forms of the fleet of what she assumed were Abyssals as they advanced upon the civilian convoy, and the greatly perturbed sea between them. Their combination of biological, mechanical and what could only be described as eldritch was immensely unsettling and eerily reminiscent of the Borg, sending chills up her spine as memories of cutting beams slicing through her hull surfaced unbidden.

As much as her command crew's training as explorers and diplomats cried out for her to attempt to establish contact with a new species, research into the subject gleaned during her information gathering had indicated that all attempts at communication with the Abyssals had ended in tragedy for all parties that had tried to make contact. _Enterprise_ knew there would be no peaceful resolution of this situation.

Her current thought process was focused on how to engage this fleet without causing severe collateral damage. Firing a Type 10 phaser at a target inside an atmosphere was incredibly dangerous, as even a fraction of a percentage of energy output too high could blow the planet's atmosphere away with thermal effects alone. Photon torpedoes were an even worse idea, as even the minimum yield of a Mark VI torpedo far outstripped the yield of conventional nuclear weapons, and using one without significant modifications would do just as much damage to the ships she was defending as her targets. As streams of sensor data from her tactical analytic subroutines poured in, she felt what she identified as relief as she reached the conclusion that the barest minimum of power from her phasers would be sufficient to obliterate all of the Abyssals in the current fleet composition.

She suddenly frowned, eyes narrowing as one of her sensors indicated that there was a small number of subsurface vessels with the attacking group. Her vision shifted as she accessed the tactical overlay, the ocean's surface becoming a translucent plane, allowing her to view all the way down to the ocean's floor and see the Abyssal fleet in its entirety. Targeting data scrolled across her field of view as she subconsciously made modulation changes to her phasers to allow them to pass through the water's surface without dissipating or being absorbed.

Adjustments made and targets locked, _Enterprise_ 's arm lifted as the order to fire was given. A furious orange glow traced a circle around her palm as she pointed it at the largest of the Abyssal vessels, ends of the twin semicircular segments meeting as her targeting solution was fed to the firing computer. The sky seemed to darken as the firing sequence completed, a brilliant, palm-width lance of directed energy lashing out at light speed, piercing what her data banks identified as _Ru_ -class battleship, the immense thermal energy touching off a magazine detonation that tore the unfortunate victim asunder even as it was reduced to its component particles by the nadion beam.

The entire process had taken less than a second, and as the plume of water generated by the attack dissipated, the battlefield seemed to go silent, as those on the convoy and the Abyssals both attempted to process what had just occurred. Seconds later, more as a knee-jerk reaction to the new threat than conscious decision by leadership, the entire Abyssal fleet erupted into a storm of anti-aircraft fire, shells reaching skyward to bring down the new opponent.

 _Enterprise_ merely raised an eyebrow as fragments of the timed shells bursting around her bounced harmlessly off of her navigational deflectors, shields that were rated to resist impacts from micrometeoroids encountered at warp velocity barely registering the impacts. In response to the retaliatory attacks, she merely adjusted her aim slightly and unleashed a rain of phaser fire, decimating the entire remaining Abyssal fleet, including the submarines, in a matter of seconds. As what little remained after her fusillade slipped beneath the waves of the North Pacific, she turned back to the still fleeing cargo ships, intending to affirm that there were no injuries or damage.

* * *

The convoy coordinator had been unable to believe his eyes when _Enterprise_ had appeared. Seeing a ship that had defined the childhoods (and on occasion adult life) of millions since its debut in late 1987 was pushing the limits of suspension of disbelief generally associated with interactions with kanmusu, but it was difficult to argue with what his eyes were telling him. Any thoughts that the threat of impending doom were causing hallucinations were cast aside as the horizon was lit by a barrage of what could only be phaser fire.

Seeing the pursuing Abyssal fleet vanish in the cleansing light, he shouted to his comms officer to inform the convoy to reduce speed and that the threat was gone. As he raised his binoculars to verify their saviour's condition, he froze as he saw her turn and begin gliding towards them. Thirty seconds later, accompanied by a loud hum that swiftly died off, the starship in woman form pulled alongside his vessel, hovering several meters above the swell.

"Greetings, are you the one in command of this convoy?" she asked, her voice calm and measured, with a noticeable accent that was quite similar to the one who had captained her. At his nod, she continued. " _USS Enterprise_ , pleasure to meet you. Are any of your vessels damaged or crew injured?"

The captain shook his head as he responded. "No, nothing other than perhaps a few strained gearboxes. You arrived just in the nick of time. The little bastards didn't have a chance to launch any torpedoes."

"I am… relieved to hear that, as I was unsure that I had arrived in time." she replied, though her face did not show that, remaining as neutral as her voice. "Forgive me if that does not seem the case, I am rather new to the concept of emotions."

She lapsed into a brief silence, seeming to ponder something. Shaking her head, she continued. "If it is agreeable, I offer to act as an escort for your convoy, at least until the Japanese task force arrives."

"I would be incredibly grateful for the assistance. Would you like to come aboard so that you don't have to constantly hover?"

"No, thank you. That would be highly inadvisable, seeing as I displace more than 9 times your vessel's mass, and would likely sink it." she politely refused. "I appreciate your concern. However, I am capable of traveling on thrusters alone for an indefinite period of time, and I am currently not at more than .00001% of the trust my maneuvering thrusters are capable of outputting. They are fusion rockets, after all." After that, they lapsed into a slightly uncomfortable silence, which the captain took as an opportunity to get a proper look at their saviour.

She was a reasonably tall individual, he estimated her at just over six feet tall, with a slightly pale complexion, and was wearing the standard-issue red command staff uniform of the Next Generation series, a quartet of pips on her collar signifying a captain's rank. Her hair was a bluish silver*, and hung down to her shoulders, framing her face in a manner similar to how Beverly Crusher wore her hair. Her face bore some faint wrinkling, giving her an appearance that would be in line with a woman in their mid-thirties, but was still just as stunning as was the norm for kanmusu. Her eyes were a bright, vibrant blue, similar in colour to the aft glowing portions of her warp nacelles, a colour incongruous with her human appearance and somewhat unsettling, but overall did not detract much from her beauty.

At a glance, if stood in a line-up of other kanmusu the commander had encountered and not wearing her rigging, he would have said she was comparable in proportions to the _Nagato_ -class, very attractive without going as over the top as the _Yamato_ -class. Her posture commanded a certain respect, one that had been more than earned from those who were aware of her accomplishments. It held the gentility of a seasoned diplomat, as well as the hunger for knowledge of the greatest explorers, but whispered of the veteran warrior that even the most battle-hardened Klingon would think twice about crossing.

"Is there something you wanted to ask, Captain?"

The sudden question jolted the man out of his examination, and he had to supress a shudder at those intense eyes focusing on him. Shaking his head, he responded.

"No, not particularly, ma'am. Just never thought I would lay eyes on the most famous ship in Starfleet." Whatever kind of response he expected, it was not _Enterprise_ whirling to face him with shock evident on her face. "D-did I say something wrong, ma'am?"

Her stare was unnerving, and it made the captain wonder if she was alright. It continued for several seconds before she responded.

"How do you know of Starfleet?"

"W-well, there's a pretty popular TV series about you that ran during the Eighties and Nineties. It was so popular that some channels play reruns and it's available on most streaming services. Everybody knows about the Starship _Enterprise_!"

That revelation rocked _Enterprise_ to her core, and prompted her to delve back into her data uplink accessing the "internet" and running a search for her hull number. The sheer number of results that appeared was stunning, but none more so than the page she located on a site called "Memory Alpha." The sheer amount of information on her service life available on this site was troubling, especially as there were several events that her captain had decided not to report to Starfleet command included in her history. How could an Earth of the past, especially one that had yet to escape its own gravity well, have access to such information?

Her search turned up no obvious evidence of temporal tampering, leading to one mind bending conclusion.

 _"_ _I'm not only in an alternate timeline, but my own is considered_ fiction _to this Earth. It is highly disturbing to know that my life was considered entertainment for a less advanced humanity. The only consolation seems to be that they have done my crew and my history justice in their interpretation of the events."_ Internally cursing Q, she turned to the captain, noting his concerned expression.

"I apologize for my outburst, I failed to detect the information about my existence located in the data network I have access to, and was startled to learn you were aware of a potential future. It seems that the Prime Directive does not provide sufficient instruction cover this scenario. I was operating under the assumption that I would be providing assistance to a species unknowing of interstellar travel beyond the theoretical.

"However," she continued, her face shifting into an apologetic smile, "while I am prepared to continue interactions with the governments of this alternate Earth in light of the information I have just discovered, I will still be limiting my interference from here on out. So if you were curious, no, I will not be sharing the secrets of warp technology or matter/energy conversion. Not unless I see evidence that doing so would not cause a chaotic, potentially detrimental shift in human sociological development."

The captain gave a sigh, running his hand through his hair. "I understand. Personally, I don't care about more than doing my job and preventing people in isolated countries from starving to death. Now's not really the time for this conversation, and I'm not the one to be having it with, but let me just say that in this war, those replicators of yours would be a godsend."

He looked out over the ocean, a grim expression fixed upon it before closing his eyes and turning back to the bridge and heading back in to continue directing the convoy, leaving _Enterprise_ to ponder her role in the world she found herself part of.

 _"_ _What is your angle, Q? What thinly veiled lesson of morality are you attempting to teach? What is the test I find myself subject to?"_

* * *

Aside from a flyover by aircraft that _Enterprise_ 's reference banks identified as A6M type 52 "Zero" fighters, the next two and three quarter hours progressed quietly with the captain only exiting the bridge of his tanker to check the horizon occasionally. As the sun began to touch the horizon, _Enterprise_ turned her head to the Southwest, just as the forms of the kanmusu task force her sensors had been tracking since the captain had radioed to report the situation.

Her eyes quickly picked out and identified the forms of the carriers _Ryuujou_ and _Jun'you_ , as well as the battleships _Ise_ , _Hyuuga_ , _Yamashiro_ , and _Fusou_ and several cruisers and destroyers, as well as a single submarine cruising just below the surface, all closing at roughly 29 knots.

A floatplane buzzed over the convoy, circling once before vectoring towards _Enterprise_ , who tracked it. As it passed, she spotted the pilot of the tiny craft, giving them a nod. As it flew back towards its parent ship, _Enterprise_ sent out an audio hail to the approaching task force.

"Attention approaching fleet, this is _USS Enterprise_. I assume you are here to assist in escorting this fleet to their destination?"

The response was swift and professional. _["_ USS Enterprise _, this is_ JS Ryuujou _of Task Force AL. You are correct in your assumption, but I would ask if you would power down your weapons before we arrive, and accompany us back to Yokosuka for debriefing."]_

" _JS Ryuujou_ , I will comply with your request, though I reserve the right to leave formation on my own judgement. Is this arrangement acceptable?"

A sigh came over the radio in response. _["I guess that's the best I can reasonably expect. I know there really isn't much we can do to stop you; we're not equipped to deal with a_ Galaxy _-class starship. We'll be coming alongside you in fifteen minutes. We'll continue this talk face-to-face then."]_

"Agreed. I look forward to meeting you in person. _Enterprise_ out."

Fifteen minutes after cutting the transmission, Task Force AL had deployed in a defensive formation around the cargo vessels, the destroyers and cruisers spreading into a ring around the convoy with the battleships and carriers interspersed amongst them. _Enterprise_ continued to hover near the lead ship, having disconnected her phaser banks from their power feeds as instructed. After deployment, _Ryuujou_ steamed up beside her several paper figures transforming into a combat air patrol as they took off from the scroll that served as her flight deck.

As the last Zero took off, she stowed her scroll and turned towards _Enterprise_.

"Sorry about earlier," she started, "but we can't be too careful. This wouldn't have been the first time the Abyssals have attempted to lure a fleet into a trap with a hostage convoy. I'm _JS_ _Ryuujou_ , flagship of Task Force AL. I take it you are the legendary _Enterprise_. I can't thank you enough for stepping in to save the lives of these men and women. If it hadn't been for you, we would be fishing whatever survivors we could find out of the water."

"It was no trouble. Prime Directive or not, I was not going to stand by whilst civilians were in direct threat from a known hostile force. I must ask why they had not been provided with a proper escort."

"A valid question, I suppose." _Ryuujou_ sighed. "Our forces are stretched much thinner than we'd like, guarding the routes used to supply the Philippines and the few naval bases still active in the central Pacific, where Abyssal activity is more prevalent, as well as the trans-Atlantic convoys. We just don't have the numbers to patrol everywhere, so routes with lower numbers of attacks don't generally get escorts.

"Strangely, despite it being the major route for shipping in the North Pacific, the Alaskan Route receives the smallest number of attacks in the entire Pacific, and those convoys that are attacked rarely take significant losses. Even our regular patrol area rarely sees combat. Nobody's sure why, but we're not going to complain if it means we can get vital supplies through relatively unmolested. The fleet that you destroyed probably came from a more southerly base."

"I see." _Enterprise_ responded. "When we arrive at our destination, who will I be delivering my report to?"

"Normally my direct superior Rear Admiral Goto, but from what I heard in when informing him of the situation, you might have to report to the command of US Fleet Activities Yokosuka and the Chief of Maritime Staff for the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force. We've had kanmusu show up in the middle of patrols and operations before, but since you don't answer to any active nation's navy, we can't just send you to the commander of the navy of whichever nation built your hull. Whatever happens, you'll probably under extremely heavy escort, seeing as you are effectively the ambassador of a nation that doesn't exist yet."

"Understood. I guess it is a good thing that I served as the diplomatic vessel for a number of first contacts during my career then." _Enterprise_ stated with a faint smile, causing _Ryuujou_ to snort at the meiosis.

"Well, if you need any information don't hesitate to ask. I have to get back to coordinating the fleet. We should arrive in Yokosuka in about four and a half days, how are you on fuel?"

"I am currently operating on maneuvering thrusters only, but my range is unlimited. You need not worry."

"That's good. Keep me informed if anything changes."

* * *

The next four days passed quietly, _Enterprise_ taking the opportunity to obtain as much information as possible about this version of Earth and what it knew of her timeline, as well as to determine the amount of support she could afford to provide without completely flouting the Prime Directive. The Abyssal War had shattered the world economy, and placed many nations at the mercy of their neighbors. Rationing was rampant in many countries and those without such measures had seen huge spikes in the consumer price index as importation became incredibly difficult and dangerous.

Many island nations had been forced to declare martial law in order to maintain stability in the face of being cut off from certain goods, and large patches of the ocean with countless inhabited islands had found themselves completely at the care of Abyssals, usually with tragic consequences. Even the might of nations with modernized navies was insufficient to hold the line, and the remaining modern ships had found themselves more frequently spending time in port for repairs or to prevent them from being lost.

Despite the dire situation, several good things had occurred that gave hope. International cooperation had flourished in the face of this threat, countries with histories of rivalry and antagonism had banded together in a unified front, and the UN had strengthened significantly. Humanitarian aid organizations had come into their own as millions of individuals joined in the effort to aid their fellow humans in less fortunate circumstances. Technology had taken significant leaps forward as new ways to combat the Abyssals were pushed forward, and funding for vital medical research had been provided leading to innovative new medicines and treatment procedures.

The greatest beacon of hope for humanity, both for ending the war and keeping humanity from tearing itself apart in the aftermath, were the kanmusu. The spirits of warships, who had fought tooth and nail against each other in the second world war, had forged bonds and friendships that did not care about cultural and geographic boundaries. Several prominent members of kanmusu fleets had publically announced that, following the war, they would commit themselves to the defence of all nations, and there were talks of creating a single unified kanmusu fleet beholden only to the United Nations.

All this was taken into account in _Enterprise_ 's inner debate.

 _"_ _As much as I respect the Prime Directive, I feel it is my duty to interfere in this Earth's development. It is highly unlikely that the major powers in this conflict will be willing to cooperate following the cessation of violence, and even less likely that they will allow the kanmusu to do as they please. I fear that relations between nations will degenerate quickly, and we may see a war nearly as bad as the Eugenics Wars break out within a decade._

 _"_ _I do not have to teach them how to achieve warp travel, but it may be necessary to share fusion power and energy/matter conversion technology in order to provide stability after the Abyssals are defeated. If nothing else, it may ease the economic burdens of all nations."_

The decision she eventually came to was by no means an easy one to make, and it went against many of the tenets held almost sacred in Starfleet doctrine, but she felt it was absolutely necessary to make. _Ryuujou's_ voice sounded out suddenly, breaking her out of her introspection.

"We're almost to Yokosuka. The cargo transports are breaking off now, and we'll be making landfall in about half an hour." she informed _Enterprise_. "You ready for debriefing?"

"I am." _Enterprise_ replied. Both fell silent as they made for port.

* * *

Landfall was an interesting affair. As the kanmusu walked onto the shore, the "rigging" they possessed vanished, leaving them indistinguishable from normal humans barring their somewhat idealized female forms and the occasional abnormal hair or eye colour. _Enterprise_ wondered how one could violate thermodynamics this way, when her attention was pulled away from this line of inquiry by _Ryuujou_ waving her over.

"You going to put away your rigging?"

 _Enterprise_ blinked, looking back at the manifestation of her saucer section. "I… am unsure of how to do so." she admitted as she turned back. "How would I go about doing so?"

 _Ryuujou_ sighed. "Mostly it's just about concentrating on the human part of you, and it just does it on its own." she stated. "Give it a try, unless you want to hover everywhere until you figure out how to adjust your weight while your rigging is equipped. It's also best not to question how it works, down that path lies madness."

Nodding in response, _Enterprise_ closed her eyes, equating what she wanted to do to how she had manifested her "rigging" to begin with. A strange sensation washed over her and the weight of her hull vanished, which is the exact moment she remembered that she had been hovering several feet in the air. She looked down as gravity took hold, uttering a simple "Shit." as she was pulled mercilessly into the concrete, landing flat on her face.

Looking up as she heard _Ryuujou_ struggling to contain her laughter, she fixed the light carrier with a glare as she drew herself up to her impressive height, grasping the waist of her uniform and pulling it to straighten it out. Oddly enough, this action caused _Ryuujou_ to lose the battle against her mirth and she began to howl with laughter.

"Oh, _God_! You actually do the 'Picard Manoeuver,' too!" she managed to grind out through her gales of laughter. "That's freaking hilarious!"

"I fail to see what is so humorous about my actions." _Enterprise_ groused. "Besides, performing a high warp manoeuver in atmosphere is an extremely poor idea, no matter what advantage it provides."

Fighting back giggles, _Ryuujou_ elaborated. "Wrong 'Picard Manoeuver.'" she snickered. "In this case, it refers to how you straighten you uniform when standing up. Picard does it the exact same way all the time in the show."

 _Enterprise_ 's glare dropped as she blinked, remembering that particular habit of her captain. She gave a fond smile.

"I think my Captain might have had a chuckle hearing it referred to in that manner, however I do not believe it advisable to continue calling it that, due to the fact that there is a legitimate battle tactic already going by that name, and that may cause some confusion."

Still snickering, _Ryuujou_ nodded. Beckoning with one hand, she began walking towards a building labeled _Administration_ , straightening her posture as she led _Enterprise_ through the double doors. Scaling three flights of stairs, the two walked in relative silence, broken only by _Ryuujou_ greeting a pair of destroyers. It took less than five minutes to reach the door to the commanding officer's workspace, and _Ryuujou_ immediately ushered _Enterprise_ inside.

The room within was relatively sparse, populated only by a single desk and a few chairs along the wall. There was a door in the back wall that clearly indicated that this was a secretary's office. Seated at the desk was a young woman with black hair, dressed in a blue-and-white uniform. The name plate identified her as _Ooyodo_.

"Hello, _Ryuujou_. They're waiting for you and our guest inside." _Ooyodo_ greeted. "I recommend you be on your best behaviour, Vice Admirals Sawyer and Murakawa are in there, and I'm pretty sure they're not as lenient towards our antics as Goto."

Seeing her chaperone tense, _Enterprise_ assumed that these two were quite high profile individuals, and subconsciously straightened her uniform once again. When signaled to enter, she followed _Ryuujou_ into the office.

Both of them knew that the upcoming meeting would decide the course of human history irrevocably.

They could only hope it went smoothly.

* * *

And so First Contact has been made. Writing a battle scene like that was… difficult to say the least. Firstly, you have to take into account that Starfleet protocol states that force is the last resort, and only to reciprocate on an equivalent level. Second, it is very easy to just say "and then she obliterated the entire fleet," but many don't realize the amount of finesse using weapons designed for space combat in atmosphere requires. A Type X phaser outputs the same amount of energy per second at full power as the entire Earth's atmosphere absorbs from solar radiation in the same time span. An episode of TNG indicated that the _Enterprise_ 's phasers could blow away an entire atmosphere from thermal effects alone in one shot, and that _wasn't_ at full power. Third, there's no indication of how a tactical computer collects and interprets data, so I needed to find a way that made sense. And lastly, I wanted a curb stomp battle that didn't just give no chance of retaliation, but the effects of that retaliation also had to make sense.

Moving on to the rest of the chapter, I wanted to ensure that at least an inner debate occurred before _Enterprise_ tossed the Prime Directive out of the hangar bay doors. This is a seriously important piece of doctrine for Starfleet, and can't just be tossed aside for plot convenience, so I wanted at least some form of moral dilemma present before the decision to interfere was made. I also wanted to do some world building, and highlight just how dire the situation for Kancolle Earth is, as a war of that magnitude has some pretty serious ramifications. Reconstruction and resettlement efforts post-war will place even further strain in the time it would take to recover. To put it in perspective, Britain's WW2 rationing policies did not fully end until _9 years_ after the end of the war, and they were on the _winning side_.

As for her human body, I decided to pull elements from most of the major bridge crew. I took her height from Riker and Worf, her face and hair style from Crusher, her voice from Deanna, her speech patterns and core personality from Picard, and her unnatural eye colour is meant to inspire the Uncanny Valley of Data. Her trouble with emotions stems from similar problems to what Data encountered whilst using the Emotion Chip. I chose to locate her phasers in her hands to emphasize the omnidirectional and exceedingly precise nature of her armament, and I seriously debated her firing her phasers from her finger tips a la Byakuya Kuchiki, but decided against that for this battle as she is unfamiliar with how her body/rigging operates and was mostly acting on autopilot.

But I just had to insert a bit of the humor associated with Kancolle there at the end, so I hope you all enjoyed the inclusion of the famed "Picard Manoeuver."

As always, feel free to provide _constructive_ criticism (this _does not_ mean praise only, feel free to point out specific flaws, just do it in a polite manner), and I hope this at least maintained the standard set by the first chapter.

ANs:

*It's pretty much the same colour as her hull.


	4. Chapter 3

It occurred to me as I was starting this chapter that I had forgotten the customary disclaimers on my previous chapters. So here we go:

I do not hold copyright or trademark on either _Kantai Collection_ or _Star Trek_. I am just playing around with their worlds for the sake of my amusement and yours, and in no way intend to obtain any form of profit, monetary or otherwise from this work.

With that out of the way, I once again thank all those who took the time to review last chapter and am glad I am continuing to produce something you think is worth investing your time in. Enjoy!

 **Chapter 3**

It was with great trepidation that _Enterprise_ entered the office of _Ryuujou_ 's commanding officer. To state that there was much riding on the outcome of this meeting was an immense understatement. The entire course of humanity's evolution as a species hinged on it.

Within, five figures were seated. The first, sitting at the desk, was a somewhat handsome, if nondescript man in the uniform of a Japanese officer, his rank insignia identifying him as a Rear Admiral. The name plate on his desk identified him as Goto Kensei. To his left, also in a Japanese officer's uniform, instead wearing the markings of Vice Admiral, was the man her image searches identified as Murakawa Yutaka, Chief of Maritime Staff. On his right, dressed in the officer's uniform of the United States Navy, with the rank insignia also of Vice Admiral, was the man her image database identified as Phillip G Sawyer, commanding officer of US Fleet Activities Yokosuka.

On the far left of the office, and slightly behind the others, stood a woman with black hair and red eyes, who stood only a few centimeters shorter than _Enterprise_ , and held a commanding presence despite the less than regulation clothing she wore. On the other side was a woman with light red-brown hair and blue eyes, and was slightly taller than _Enterprise_.

All five pairs of eyes fixed their gaze upon _Enterprise_ the moment she entered behind _Ryuujou_.

"Light Carrier _Ryuujou_ reporting as ordered, Admirals. I have brought the individual I noted in my field report." _Ryuujou_ stated, snapping off a crisp salute. There was a sudden start from the American Admiral, his eyes snapping to the light carrier as his eyebrows rose. He then turned to the Rear Admiral next to him.

"I was unaware you had any kanmusu other than _Nagato_ that spoke fluent English, Goto." he said.

"I do not, Admiral Sawyer. I did not hear _Ryuujou_ speak anything other than Japanese, myself." was the response. At _Enterprise_ 's dawning expression of realization, Goto continued, "But I do believe our guest has an explanation for us."

 _Enterprise_ nodded. "I believe that despite my rigging not being present, I am still affecting those around me with my Universal Translation software. It allows those within it to hear any language in my database spoken by any person within range as though it were spoken in their own as if spoken by a native speaker. It is one of Starfleet's more potent and valuable diplomatic tools. Nothing makes a good impression like being able to properly communicate, after all."

Sawyer nodded at the explanation. "Ah, that makes sense. Be pretty hard to make peaceful first contact with a species that doesn't understand you." With speed that showed why he was placed in command, Sawyer switched gears. "Forgive me for my rudeness, I haven't properly introduced myself. Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer, I'm in command of the base and all US forces here at Yokosuka. Pleasure to meet you, _Enterprise_." He held out his hand in greeting. _Enterprise_ accepted the handshake, careful to measure the force of her grip.

"I am Vice Admiral Murakawa, Chief of Maritime Staff, Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force. I coordinate all of Japan's surface forces. You honor us with your presence, _Enterprise_ -san." the only Admiral yet to speak added, giving a short bow, which _Enterprise_ returned.

"And I'm Rear Admiral Goto, though I suspect you already knew who we were. The kanmusu on my left is the battleship _JS Nagato_ , and the one on the right is the carrier _USS Saratoga._ " Goto finished, the two reborn ships on either end nodding when introduced. " _Nagato_ is my second-in-command, and _Saratoga_ is the same for Admiral Sawyer."

Introductions finished, Admiral Sawyer spoke up.

"I'm going to cut to the chase, _Enterprise_. Your appearance, while welcome, has stirred up a shit storm. Nobody in any of the allied command structures can figure out how to handle this situation, and everybody is worried about stepping on everyone else's toes, seeing as we have enough trouble coordinating actions against the Abyssals as it is.

"We also don't have any ideas on how to deploy you in the event we figure out who's command structure you fall in in the first place. It would really be helpful if you had some insight to help in that regard. But first, we would like to hear your report concerning the fleet you fought."

With a nod, _Enterprise_ began her report. "Of course, Admiral. I had begun my descent through the atmosphere at 14:37 local time and was approaching an altitude of one thousand nine hundred meters when I first received the convoy's distress call. I had listened in to see if they would be able to gain assistance, and after determining that I was in the best position to help, I elected to provide aid, despite the non-interference policy normally practiced due to the Prime Directive. I made contact to inform the convoy that I would be providing aid and vectored to intercept.

"It took six minutes at Mach 10 to reach the convoy's position, and upon arrival I found that no ships in the convoy had been sunk before my arrival, but that one ship was dropping back. I turned to assess the enemy forces, counting twenty vessels: two battleships, three heavy cruisers, five light cruisers, nine destroyers and a submerged vessel. At 14:46, I targeted and destroyed a _Ru_ -class battleship with a single phaser burst at minimal power. As I retargeted for a full barrage, I came under massed anti-aircraft fire, all of which was absorbed or deflected by my navigational deflector shields. At 14:47, I fired and destroyed the remaining nineteen vessels over a span of ten seconds. Following confirmation of the fleet's destruction, I approached the trailing vessel and confirmed with the convoy's commanding officer that no damage or injuries had been sustained.

"Following these actions, I provided escort until Task Force AL arrived and took over escort operations, upon which I complied with requests to power down my weapons and accompany the task force to Yokosuka."

Following her conclusion, _Ryuujou_ stepped forward.

"I can confirm the timeline of events, though I can't confirm enemy force composition. There were no other incidents during the final days of the convoy's journey, and _Enterprise_ did not interact with anyone other than the captain of the ship she talked to before we arrived and myself."

"Thank you, _Ryuujou_. I'll get the full details of your patrol in your written report. You are dismissed." Goto replied.

Sawyer waited until _Ryuujou_ exited before addressing _Enterprise_ once more.

"Now that that is out of the way, what do you intend to do from here?" he asked.

"If I may speak freely?" At Sawyer's nod, _Enterprise_ continued. "On my journey here, I deliberated quite intensely on how to proceed now that my presence has been revealed. As I am sure you are aware, the Prime Directive is very, very clear on avoiding all contact with, and contamination of, pre-warp civilizations. Indeed, if it had not been brought to my attention that much of my career is public knowledge on this Earth, we would not be having this conversation, as I would have departed shortly after verification that the convoy had been taken into the task force's protection.

"Much of my deliberations focused on the state of the world on a whole. I am of the opinion that, following the conclusion of this war, a war of even greater severity will likely occur within the decade."

"Now hold on!" Sawyer interjected. "The only reason we're pushing back against the Abyssals at all is because of international cooperation! You mean to tell me that - "

His tirade was cut off by a hand on his shoulder from Murakawa.

"What has lead you to this conclusion, _Enterprise_ -san?"

With a heavy sigh, _Enterprise_ continued. "Many countries are on the edge, if they collapse, vacuums will form, plunging the world into further chaos. Yes, international cooperation is at an all-time high, but, in the war's immediate aftermath, it is most likely that all countries will turn to focus on their own interests once again. Vital aid will disappear; countries will descend into anarchy as support disappears. While many kanmusu have pledged to serve humanity as a whole in the aftermath, can any of you honestly tell me that your superior officers, your governments will willingly allow what they see as invaluable weapons just walk away? That they can put aside petty self-interest and/or greed to work towards the better whole?"

The uncomfortable looks she received spoke volumes.

 _Enterprise_ shook her head. "You must remember, the humanity I left was a post-scarcity society. There was no struggle for basic survival, as anyone could easily push a button and have any luxury or necessity they wanted. Money meant nothing, as there was nothing to buy, and political power was practically useless due to the fact that the Federation was an amalgam of cultures and belief systems spanning dozens of species, all working towards common goals. A war would have vastly different effects on a culture like ours, as any we found ourselves in were defensive in nature, for we had no need to conquer for resources. You do not possess those resources, the security knowing that your livelihood is safe from the volatility of your economic systems.

"That being said, the decision I came to, despite going against every tenet of Starfleet training, is to provide assistance. I am not going to share warp technology or impulse propulsion, as I'm sure that eventually you will discover them, given the opportunity, but in the interest of continued stability post-war, I am willing to divulge fusion power and replicator technology, as long as you fulfill some of the stipulations I have in regards to their dissemination. Also, should a situation arise that calls for it, I am willing to act as a neutral intermediary for diplomatic discussions."

Following her speech, the admirals were silent, pondering what she had laid out before them. The silence was broken first by _Nagato_.

"What are these stipulations of yours? I am curious as to why you have conditions on providing technology that can save lives and, as you have stated you believe, prevent a war."

"I will not permit my gifts to be hoarded and abused by any one nation or group of nations. The conditions call for these technologies to be made available to all nations, and not just those with the stockpiled resources to construct them. If you are not willing to accept these conditions, you will accept the consequences of not doing so. I serve a _united_ Earth, not any single group upon it, and my technology will be made available to all upon its surface, or none will be given it."

Sawyer cleared his throat, gaining their attention. "I can't speak for anyone outside this room, but I'm pretty sure all of us agree that your terms are more than agreeable. A single replicator per base could make the entire kanmusu force completely self-sufficient. Viable fusion power would be a godsend. Continuing cooperation with other nations isn't really a price in my eyes. I'll send your response up the pipeline, if you are willing to wait for the goddamn red tape machine to reach a decision."

"I am in agreement with my esteemed American colleague." Murakawa input. "I too will pass on your terms to my government, and ensure that they understand in no uncertain terms that cooperation is paramount to this arrangement."

 _Enterprise_ nodded before responding. "That is acceptable. If it is agreeable, I would like to remain here until such time as a response arrives."

"That's fine." Goto cut in. "We'll put you up in the diplomatic suites."

He turned to _Nagato_. "Take our guest her to the diplomat's quarters, maybe to the mess for some food, as well."

With a nod, _Nagato_ stepped forwards.

"You go with them, Saratoga. The three of us need to discuss where to go from here." Sawyer added.

With that dismissal, the three kanmusu left the room in silence.

* * *

As the three left, _Nagato_ gave _Ooyodo_ a nod, before sticking her arm out in a manner that seemed designed to clothesline someone. Not one second later, the sound of running feet and a cry growing louder was heard.

"TEI~~~TO~~~KU~~~!"

The door burst open, followed almost immediately by a brown-and-white blur entering, which impacted _Nagato_ 's outstretched arm and resolved into a woman in garb _Enterprise_ identified as being loosely based off of traditional miko clothing. As the woman came to a halt, _Nagato_ wrapped her arm around the intruder's neck before dragging her bodily from the room, motioning with her head for _Enterprise_ and _Saratoga_ to follow.

After they exited _Ooyodo_ 's workspace and closed the door behind them, _Nagato_ released the woman, who stood and fixed her with a glare as she dusted off her clothing.

" _Nagato_! Why have you obstructed me in my quest to win Teitoku's undying affections by showing him the power of my BURNING LOVE!?" she cried in indignation.

"Now is not the time for your antics, _Kongou_. Rear Admiral Goto is in a meeting of great importance concerning our guest here. Vice Admirals Sawyer and Murakawa are in attendance, and it is imperative they remain uninterrupted. You can molest him later."

 _Kongou_ blinked at the blunt explanation, seeming to realize there was someone else in the hallway with them. She gave an enthusiastic nod of greeting to _Saratoga_ , clearly recognising her, before turning to the person they were escorting.

"OH! I didn't see you there! Who do I have the honour of meeting?"

" _USS Enterprise_ , NCC-1701-D. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." _Enterprise_ introduced with a short bow. "I am to be staying on the base until further notice."

"It's great to meet you, _Enterprise_! Please allow me to properly introduce myself!" _Kongou_ started. Suddenly, the hallway faded out, causing _Enterprise_ to look around in bemusement, as what she was seeing was incongruent with what her other sensors were telling her about her environment. "I'm the name ship of the _Kongou_ class! Born in England and raised in Japan! I'm _Kongou_!"

An image quickly identified as the pre-nuclear Armageddon British Parliament building, complete with clock tower, appeared, followed by silhouette of a battleship on a calm sea, firing its guns as _Kongou_ posed. Suddenly, there were three additional people in the hallway, all in similar outfits to _Kongou_ , and with no indication of how they arrived in her sensor logs.

"Second ship of the _Kongou_ class! I won't lose in love or war! I'm _Hiei_!"

"I'm the third ship of the _Kongou_ class! _Haruna_ here, I'll give it my best!"

"Fourth ship of the _Kongou_ class! I'm _Kirishima_ , the brains of the fleet!"

As each individual introduced themselves in a clearly choreographed display, the background images shifted through various scenes, each introduction punctuated by a silhouette of their hulls and a report from their main guns.

"We are the four _Kongou_ sisters!" the three newcomers concluded before shifting into a group pose, topped off by _Kongou_ adopting her previous pose and shouting "DESU!" This was accompanied by a quartet of guns firing to produce clouds of coloured smoke.

As the hallway faded back in, _Enterprise_ could only stare at the astonishing display, mouth agape and eye twitching slightly. Beside her, _Nagato_ pinched the bridge of her nose, grumbling something along the lines of having just said not to do something like that, and _Saratoga_ was fighting a smile. There was an uneasy, almost dumbstruck silence for a number of minutes, before _Enterprise_ finally managed to regain her composure.

"A pleasure to meet all of you. However, I must ask how you managed the visual aspect of that display without holographic technology."

 _Kongou_ cocked her head to the side, confusion on her face. "Visual aspect of what?" she asked, looking back towards her sisters, who sported similarly confused looks. "All we did was say hello…"

Eye beginning to twitch once more, _Enterprise_ opened her mouth to elaborate, only to stop as _Nagato_ placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's best not to question it. We tend to just chalk it up to _Kongou_ being _Kongou_. It tends to be safer for your psyche that way." the dreadnought said in a soothing voice. "Come. We need to give you a tour of the facilities and get you settled into your quarters."

She turned to the _Kongou_ sisters, fixing them with a stern gaze. "You may accompany us, as long as you have completed your normal duties and curb your usual exuberance."

"Of course we would like to get to know our guest! That way, we can be proper hosts during her stay, desu!" _Kongou_ almost cried out, before she seemed to undergo an almost palpable change, the manic energy seeming to vanish in an instant, a somewhat gentle smile taking the place of her wide grin. "I apologize for my earlier actions. My sisters and I are somewhat excitable, and are generally overenthusiastic when greeting newcomers." she said, giving a small bow, her voice quieter and somewhat subdued.

This change drew a nod from _Nagato_ , who had seen this behaviour before, and a double take from _Saratoga_ , who had not. _Enterprise_ , who had experience with sudden character shifts after all the insanity that had befallen her crew during her journeys, just took it in stride, turning to her escort.

"Right, then. Where to first, _Nagato_ -san?" she asked. _Nagato_ opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off by the sound of several stomachs growling loudly. Her cheeks coloured as she answered.

"It seems that the best idea would to begin our tour in the mess hall. It is about time for lunch, and this would be a good way to introduce you to the other base personnel and to ensure that you are given proper respect. I'm sure food would not be amiss, either." At _Enterprise_ 's nod, _Nagato_ lead them out of the Administration building.

As they moved away from the entrance, _Nagato_ indicated a building to the left.

"That is the officer and diplomat's dormitory, where you will be lodging during the duration of your visit. After our tour, I will guide you to your quarters." she stated, before leading them on towards another, larger building. "The building we are approaching is where the kitchens and mess hall are located. The mess hall is open during the hours posted on the door, however, if you are feeling hungry during the hours the mess is closed, there is a restaurant run by the supply ship _Mamiya_. The building to our right is the dormitory for destroyers and light cruisers, on our left is the lodgings of the heavy cruisers, battleships and carriers."

As they approached their destination, the smell of cooking foods reached them. Unexpectedly, _Enterprise_ began to salivate at the stimulus. As she chalked it up to an autonomic response from her new human body, she looked over to see that _Saratoga_ was visibly drooling as they reached the door.

"Hmm," started _Nagato_ , "seems like they're serving beef today. Must be due to the arrival of this week's shipment." She pushed open the door, revealing the interior.

Inside was a relatively common cafeteria setup, tables arranged in rows, and a counter along the far wall, which had a long window through which the kitchens were visible. Most of the tables had at least one occupant, and many were filled by individuals that _Enterprise_ quickly realized were kanmusu. And invariably, a tray filled with food was placed before each one, at least a quarter possessing what could be charitably described as a mountain of food.

Following _Nagato_ as she beckoned her, _Enterprise_ walked towards the counter, their trek causing the chatter to begin dying away as many realized that their Executive Officer was followed by an unfamiliar face. As they reached the other end of the room, _Nagato_ turned to address the gathered kanmusu.

"May I have your attention please?" she called, waiting for the last of the conversation to die down before continuing. "As you all may have noticed; we have a guest among us. This is _USS Enterprise_ , and she will be staying with us for an indeterminate amount of time. I expect you all to treat her with the same courtesy you would any other diplomat, am I clear?"

At the collective nods, she turned to _Enterprise_. "Is there anything you wish to say in introduction?"

Stepping forwards and straightening her uniform, _Enterprise_ nodded. "As stated, I am _USS Enterprise_ , NCC-1701-D, _Galaxy_ -class. I am staying here until such time as what my contribution to this war will be is decided upon. I hope to get to know you all eventually in the meantime. Please do not hesitate to ask questions in the future, just respect that I may not answer those that I am not comfortable discussing. Thank you."

A storm of whispers kicked up as she turned back to _Nagato_ , who gave a nod before asking, "What is your displacement? I need to know so we can properly resupply you."

Blinking, _Enterprise_ responded, "Dry, I displace between four million, five hundred thousand and five million metric tons." At seeing _Nagato_ 's stricken expression, she continued. "However, I do not require refuelling or rearming, and the only things that require regular replacement are the dilithium crystals that stabilize my warp core and generate my warp plasma, and my photon torpedo compliment, though if cut off from resupply, I am able to use my onboard replicators to slowly replenish my torpedoes. My crew can be fed nearly indefinitely by the replicators alone, and I usually only return to starbases to offload or pick up mission-specific equipment and personnel. I was designed with long-range exploration missions in mind."

Giving a relieved sigh, _Nagato_ turned to the kitchen personnel.

"I need five battleship, one carrier, and a heavy cruiser ration, please." At _Enterprise_ 's raised eyebrow, Nagato clarified. "I am getting you that just in case. We don't know how the transition to kanmusu has affected you, so I will err on the side of caution."

 _Enterprise_ 's food was ready first, and she thanked the kitchen staff before taking her food over to an empty table. Deciding to at least try the food, _Enterprise_ carefully cut a piece off of the first of the two steaks on her plate, carefully chewing as she savoured the taste. The experience was definitely the most enjoyable of her short time with a human body, and she could see herself partaking in its consumption on occasion, but something was missing. Forgetting for a moment that replicators did not yet exist on this Earth, she called out.

"Tea, Earl Grey. Hot." This was almost followed by an immediate face palm, before her attention was grabbed by a familiar two-tone chip, and a cup of the requested beverage appeared in a shower of sparkles and a very welcome, high-pitched, hum-hiss sound. Picking up the newly replicated cup and saucer, _Enterprise_ took an appreciative sip, relishing the hot drink before setting it down to continue with her meal.

" _At least I seem to have access to my replicators for small comforts."_

"WOW! That was amazing!" The exuberant voice of _Kongou_ sounded from her immediate right, causing her to start. Once again, the hyper active battleship had somehow evaded her incredibly advanced sensor suite, having approached without her notice. "I'm also glad to see someone else who also appreciates a proper British tea! Could I try some?"

Having got her erratic warp core function back under control, _Enterprise_ nodded, intoning her previous command and passing the cup over to _Kongou_. The battleship graciously accepted, taking a sip with a thoughtful expression before placing it on the table.

"It's not bad…" she evaluated, "but it's not quite as good as properly brewed tea."

"Not surprising," _Enterprise_ allowed, "most don't notice the subtle differences between replicated and 'real' food and drink, but those who fancy themselves connoisseurs swear up and down that there is a noticeable difference in quality. However, when light years from a proper brewing set up, replicated will do. Perhaps I may join you for tea someday."

"So, other than tea, is there anything else you can 'replicate?'" _Kongou_ asked as _Nagato_ and her sisters joined them at the table, _Saratoga_ having elected to sit down at a table with several other carriers. _Enterprise_ briefly marvelled at the amount of food piled on their plates, wondering how they were able to consume so many calories without experiencing any noticeable change in Body-Mass Index. It did, however, explain why food rationing was such a problem.

"I have not yet had the chance to explore the limits of my new ability to replicate things externally, but it is likely that I would not be able to replicate more than relatively simple objects. Replicators designed for individual use are not able to manufacture complex equipment like phasers or anything that requires an isolinear chip to function, and are programmed to not replicate substances with high levels of toxicity to any species that is likely to come on board."

"So you might be able to create ammunition or other supplies, like fuel?" _Nagato_ cut in, a highly intent look on her face.

"Not without a pattern scan," _Enterprise_ denied, shaking her head, "and such objects would be more likely to require an industrial grade replicator to produce. I do possess such facilities on board in order to increase my independence from a host station, but it is highly unlikely that I can access those externally. I will have to consult with my Engineering staff before delivering a more concrete response."

As _Nagato_ gave a somewhat resigned nod, a girl wearing a Japanese "sailor"-style schoolgirl uniform with dark brown hair and eyes approached. She looked to be slightly younger than Ensign Wesley Crusher after he was assigned to _Enterprise_ in 2364, fourteen or fifteen at oldest, and was carrying a tray with what would be described as a normal portion of food. For an adult. She seemed a little nervous as she sat down, shooting glances at _Enterprise_ as _Kongou_ enthusiastically addressed her.

"Ah, Buki-chan! Have you come to welcome _Enterprise_ to Yokosuka?"

"O-oh, um, y-yes, at least partially. I was also curious about what a _Galaxy_ -class is capable of. I've never heard of that class of ship before."

 _Enterprise_ blinked. She hadn't known of her class of ships? Despite the availability of reasonably accurate information on the internet?

"You haven't watched _Star Trek_ before, have you, Fubuki?" asked _Kirishima,_ with a gentle smile having picked up on _Enterprise_ 's confusion.

"N-no, should I have?"

"It isn't necessary, but is a good way to spend your time off. I would recommend starting out with _The Next Generation_ first, though. The acting in that one is much better than the _Original Series_."

"Oh, I see. Could you please tell me about your abilities though, _Enterprise_ -san?"

"I suppose I could give you a brief overview. But first, could I please know the name of my new acquaintance?"

"Oh! Please forgive my rudeness. I'm _Fubuki_ , the first of the Special Type Destroyers. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"A pleasure, _Fubuki_. So what, precisely, did you wish to know?"

* * *

Thirty minutes later, _Fubuki_ 's mouth was agape.

"Y-you can really do all of that?" At _Enterprise_ 's nod, she continued. "But you are consuming so little! A vessel your size and power should consume more than the _Yamato_ sisters, the _Nagato_ sisters, _and_ the _Kongou_ sisters _combined!_ And yet you've eaten less than a destroyer so far."

"I understand your confusion, _Fubuki_ , but you must remember that I run on fusion power and a matter/antimatter annihilation reaction, and was designed for extended duration missions. I am currently not using several systems that would normally be part of standard operations, like my impulse engines or warp core, and my internal replicators take care of feeding my crew and supplying material for repairs when cut off from a Starfleet base. I don't require resupply, and my Engineering staff is some of the best Starfleet has to offer. This food is nice, but to me it is a luxury. You are welcome to it if you desire it."

 _Fubuki_ stared for several moments before shaking her head.

"No, though I thank you for your gracious offer. I do not require any further resupply. If you don't want to finish it, you could give it to _Akagi_ -sempai. She burns almost as much supply as _Yamato_ -san." she said, pointing to a woman with long dark brown hair who was dressed in traditional Japanese archery gear, who had a tray stacked with plates.

Looking up at the indicated person, _Enterprise_ gave a calculating gaze. She looked briefly down at her barely touched food and came to a decision. She looked back to the aforementioned kanmusu, and as soon as _Akagi_ 's gaze was diverted, she decided to test her transporter systems.

She heard a gasp as her plate was surrounded by a shower of lights and faded out with a high-pitched hum. It materialized milliseconds later atop the stack of plates on _Akagi_ 's tray. The kanmusu in question looked down just after the transporter effect faded, eyes widening as she spotted the food that had not been there moments before. She looked around at her neighbors to determine if they had given her the food, only receiving blank stares. With a shrug, _Akagi_ tore into the dish with gusto, somehow not losing a single scrap of food.

 _Enterprise_ nodded as system reports scrolled through her vision, informing her that the transporters, while functional, were severely limited in their range. The transporter operators estimated that the range transporter beams could reach before losing cohesion was less than twenty kilometers, a far cry from the ability to beam crew and cargo to the opposite side of a planet she had possessed as a ship.

While not ideal, it did open the possibility of being able to transport replicated items out of her cargo holds. She turned to _Nagato_ , who was watching her with a contemplative gaze.

"As I have finished, shall we continue the tour?"

Snapping out of it, _Nagato_ nodded. She stood and was about to lead _Enterprise_ out when an ensign ran up and spoke to _Nagato_ in hushed tones. Sighing explosively, she beckoned _Kongou_ over. "I've been called back by the admirals; I need you to take over. Show _Enterprise_ to her quarters, and then stick with her 'till I come to check in. If she wants, show her the Docks. She may not need repairs, but they're great for stress relief, too."

"You can count on me, desu!"

With a dismissive nod, _Nagato_ handed over a slip of paper to _Kongou_ and walked away. _Enterprise_ was well aware that _Nagato_ was being called away to be questioned about her observations thus far. She could only hope that the Admiralty could convince their respective governments to behave rationally.

* * *

Sorry this one took so long, folks. Most of the delay on this chapter came from trying to establish a decent pace, balancing world-building and plot in a manner I was happy with. I oddly find battles and missions easier to write, but during "down periods" I have a tendency to ramble and provide far too much information, and I have to actively fight to avoid "Wall of Text" explanations. The other part was attempting to introduce more characters without inundating the roster, and to do so in a relatively realistic manner. A second portion of the delay was caused by me writing over 7500 words on a story concerning a metastable version Metal Sonic and Karasuba from Sekirei for no real reason other than my screwed up muse.

I opted for a reasonable level of capability concerning _Enterprise_ 's onboard replicators and transporters. I don't want _Enterprise_ riding in and fixing everything with a wave of her hand. The only reason she's willing to share the fusion power and replicator technologies is because she believes that they will be essential to prevent a societal collapse following the war. And even with her help, it will take several months just to build a working fusion reactor, and replicators are going to be even harder due to the lack of even quantum computing, let alone isolinear computing and trinary syntax programming, at this point in history.

To anyone wondering, the names of the US and JMSDF admirals are taken from the real life people who hold those positions as of 2017, and I just used the last name Goto because I couldn't find the name of the person in charge of the Japanese forces at Yokosuka, and decided to default to the commonly accepted fanon name. And yes, I did shamelessly rip the _Kongou_ sister's introduction straight from the anime, as that sequence is pretty much quintessential to any _Kongou_ introduction.

If anyone thought that the American was doing too much of the talking, it is important to remember that, prior to the Abyssal War and for more than 60 years, the US Navy's Seventh Fleet was effectively in command of all personnel on any naval base in Japan, and the JMSDF basically danced to their tune, though this was beginning to change in the beginning years of the 21st century. It is important to remember that there is currently a _Nimitz_ -class supercarrier moored in Yokosuka IRL, and most don't want to argue with the guys who have a ship capable of leveling Tokyo on its own parked on their front step. This isn't taking into account the _seven_ _Arleigh Burke_ -class guided missile destroyers stationed there, either. In this continuity, once it became clear normal ships weren't cutting it, the navies started playing defensive and kept their extremely expensive carriers and destroyers where it would be difficult for them to get sunk, meaning there is still a _Nimitz_ somewhere in Yokosuka.

As for characterization, I intent to stick as closely to the source material, though I will be drawing some inspiration from works like " _Things Involving Shipgirls That Are No Longer Allowed_ ," " _Belated Battleships_ ," and some others, pending approval from the authors. I might also include the concept of "Natural Born" kanmusu as introduced in works like Harry Leferts' HP/KC snippets on SpaceBattles and Haibara-san's " _The Great Shipgirl Swap_ ," as the idea is a rather intriguing one due to it being able to provide a partial explanation to "found" kanmusu.

As always, constructive criticism is encouraged, and I sincerely hope this installment was up to par. Remember that there is a poll for other ST kanmusu on my profile page, and have a great rest of your day.


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer:

I do not hold copyright or trademark on either _Kantai Collection_ or _Star Trek_. I am just playing around with their worlds for the sake of my amusement and yours, and in no way intend to obtain any form of profit, monetary or otherwise from this work.

With that out of the way, I once again thank all those who took the time to review last chapter and am glad I am continuing to produce something you think is worth investing your time in. Enjoy!

 **Chapter 4**

 _Enterprise_ followed _Kongou_ to the building _Nagato_ had indicated was the Dormitory for diplomats and officers, the energetic battleship talking animatedly about life on the base at Yokosuka. When they entered the building, _Kongou_ handed the piece of paper _Nagato_ had given her to the receptionist, who directed them to a room on the third floor and gave _Enterprise_ a key card. _Kongou_ turned with an inquisitive expression.

"Do you have anything you need to leave here, or would you like to go to the Docks?" she asked. "I'm sure you don't need repairs, but there are parts of the Docks that are designated specifically for recreation, and you have effectively been on your feet for several days."

 _Enterprise_ considered the question for several seconds, eventually deciding to take _Kongou_ up on the offer.

"I thank you for your gracious offer, _Kongou_. I would indeed enjoy experiencing such an activity. I will take stock of my accommodations later, please lead the way."

With a happy nod, _Kongou_ walked back out the door. _Enterprise_ followed, pulling alongside her guide.

"You stated before that one of the functions of the Docks is for repairs. How does this work? I imagine that Kanmusu do not receive and react to injuries the same way humans do."

 _Kongou_ pondered the question for a moment before responding.

"You are right that we don't respond to damage like humans. I have seen a destroyer come back from a battle missing an arm, and _Fusou_ once lost a large portion of the right side of her head during a battle with an Installation-type Abyssal, both injuries that would kill a human outright. Unless we suffer catastrophic damage while on the water, like getting torn in half or getting hit so many times that damage control can't keep us floating, we can't really die. It's a hold over from when we were actual ships. If it doesn't sink us, we can get it repaired.

"As far as I am aware, each part of our body corresponds with the different parts of our hulls. For example, our heads are the equivalent of our conning tower or bridge, our hearts are our power plants, and limbs are a combination of propulsion and weapons hardpoints. Our spinal column is actually the most important part of our physiology, as it corresponds to our keels, which is vital to keeping a boat intact. However, unless our body is too heavily damaged to effectively make repairs, doing that damage on land won't kill us.

"The Docks are basically pools of water, usually heated, that are treated with a special solution that promotes rapid healing for our bodies, though it does not seem to work for normal humans, and just creating the chemical composition isn't enough to make it, as it seems to possess some form of energy. The other part is a machine shop which is used to make repairs to our rigging, which can detach from us, and is stocked with materials that are treated with the solution in the docks. The recreation half of the Docks uses a diluted version of the repair facilities solution, and can reverse corrosion. Beyond its abilities, we don't really understand much about this solution."

"I see," _Enterprise_ stated, "Fascinating."

The pair lapsed into silence as they walked, making their way towards a massive, warehouse like building near the pier. Enterprise estimated that it covered at least ten thousand square meters, and was about two stories tall. Across the bay it was situated on, a massive aircraft carrier drew _Enterprise_ 's eye, scorch marks spotting its hull, aircraft lined up upon its deck.

Seeing _Enterprise_ 's gaze, _Kongou_ gave a sad smile.

"That is the _USS Ronald Reagan_ , the only carrier on the Asian side of the Pacific. She was confined to a port defence role after the first months of the Abyssal war, when it became apparent that modern equipment was insufficient in detecting and combating the Abyssals, in order to prevent her loss. She hasn't done much since then, except act as a possible landing platform for naval aircraft, and is somewhat grumpy about it. She would rather lay down her life in service than be relegated to what is effectively a ceremonial role, but the US Department of Defence has decided that they don't want to lose an eight-and-a-half-billion-dollar investment."

"But I had no difficulties detecting and prosecuting the fleet I encountered, and you use the rather limited sensor technologies of the second world wars, so how is it that their sensors could not combat them?"

"A valid question. There is a strange energy field that Abyssals and Kanmusu generate that interferes with modern RADAR equipment, rendering them undetectable. Guided weapons will not lock on, and their fighter craft do not adhere to standard physics, which allows them to keep pace with modern jet aircraft. The only non-Kanmusu craft actively fighting are those that do not rely on fire and forget weapons for their primary damage output, such as the _Los Angeles_ -class attack submarines and a few destroyers. The United States also reactivated the _Iowa_ -class battleships to combat the threat, but they were sunk by focused Abyssal attacks and are now serving as Kanmusu.

"The reason you and I are capable of detecting them is due to us being Kanmusu. For an unknown reason, we are not affected by this interference, which allows us to combat them far more effectively."

 _Enterprise_ did not respond, her mind awhirl with thoughts dedicated towards analyzing the information she had been given. Without comment, she followed _Kongou_ into the Dock building, nodding to acknowledge the greeting of the person at the desk, and entered into a changing room. It was at this point that _Kongou_ waved to get her attention.

"Yes?"

"I was asking if you required swimwear. Most Japanese Kanmusu don't care one way or the other on bathing nude, but I know most of them from the western countries have some reservations."

"It is of no consequence. I am comfortable with either state of dress. My ship's counselor, Deanna Troi, was half-Betazoid. It is traditional for Betazoid marriages to be attended in the nude by everyone invited. I should also state that many crew brought their families, and that sexual intercourse did occur, Starfleet regulations be damned. I will be content to bathe nude."

 _Kongou_ nodded at the answer, then turned to a locker and stripped down. _Enterprise_ followed suit, stowing her clothes in a locker next to _Kongou_ 's, and then followed her into the antechamber, where they cleaned their bodies before entering the Docks proper.

The floor was dominated by a number of large pools, stretching all the way to a rear wall halfway down the length of the building that had several large doors and the kanji for 'machine shop' and 'intensive care' emblazoned across it, near the ceiling. The pools nearest were slightly more clear than the ones closer to the machine shop, and steam rose from their surfaces, most of these ones empty. Several of the pools past the point marked by a line marked 'repair' had occupants, most of those resting with their eyes closed.

There was only one of the recreational pools that had an occupant, and she was looking curiously towards _Kongou_ and _Enterprise_. _Kongou_ waved at her and walked over, _Enterprise_ following suit.

"Hey, _Kongou_ , it's been a while. Who's the new girl? I didn't hear of a summoning happening."

"Hi, _Sendai_. You didn't hear about a summoning because there wasn't one. This is _Enterprise_."

"A natural born?"

"Not so far as we're aware."

"Well, it's good to have another carrier anyway. It'll be nice to get jet-powered air support, especially since she can take part in night battles."

It was at this point that _Enterprise_ cut in.

"Then I am afraid you will be disappointed. I am not a carrier."

 _Sendai_ blinked.

"You're not? I could have sworn _Enterprise_ was a carrier's name, and the only one that isn't a Kanmusu already is CVN-65."

"Indeed not. My hull number is NCC-1701-D. I am a _Galaxy_ -class starship, and the only vessels I carry, other than escape pods and the captain's yacht, are shuttlecraft and runabouts, none of which are armed."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up a second. _Galaxy-class starship?_ As in the spaceship from the _24_ _th_ _century!?_ That _Galaxy_ -class?"

"Yes. Is there another?"

 _Sendai_ just sat there, dumbstruck, and stared motionless at _Enterprise_ for several seconds.

"Holy shit. With you fighting, this war could be over in a few days."

"I am afraid that my role will be severely limited." At _Sendai_ 's look, _Enterprise_ elaborated. "I am not comfortable with wholesale xenocide, and my weapons are not designed for atmospheric engagements anyway. They are far too powerful to be used so haphazardly. I do intend to share some specific technologies to aid in recovery efforts, and am willing to act as a third party mediator in any possible negotiations, but unless there is a threat that specifically calls for my capabilities, I will be limiting my fighting to the defence of civilians, where I know where they will be located in relation to my targets."

" _Too powerful_? How can they be too powerful?"

"A type 10 phaser is powerful enough to strip the Earth of its atmosphere with a one second burst, and the minimum yield of a single photon torpedo would be sufficient to obliterate all of Tokyo and much of the surrounding countryside. Further, Starfleet doctrine prohibits escalation of force. We are only permitted to retaliate with the same level of force used against us, and the lowest possible setting of my phasers is a level of force far in excess of what the Abyssals are currently able to bring to bear against me. As such, I will not engage in combat unless no other option is provided to me, or it is necessary to prevent civilian loss of life."

As _Sendai_ opened her mouth to argue, _Enterprise_ held up her hand and turned her gaze to the water in the middle of the pool.

"Submerged vessel, I recommend that you cease attempting to ambush me and surface, or I will be finding out if my tractor beams function without my rigging as I drag you from the water in a most violent manner."

 _Kongou_ and _Sendai_ started as a head topped with blue-purple hair and possessing a youthful face popped above the surface, staring with awe at _Enterprise_.

"How were you so easily able to detect _Iku_?"

"The same way I detected the Abyssal submarine I destroyed near the Aleutian Islands. Water is not a substance that can interfere easily with my sensor suite. Only incredibly amounts of radiation, materials with immense density, or extremely powerful electromagnetic or subspace fields are capable of doing so. Cloaking devices are able to evade my sensors, but do possess weaknesses I can exploit if I am looking for them. Now please explain what you were attempting to do when sneaking up on me."

" _Iku_ was likely about to grope you. She knows better than to try that on me or _Kongou_ , but probably thought you were fair game."

 _Enterprise_ merely raised an eyebrow.

"She likely would not have received the reaction she was after, then. Things like that tend not to bother you as much after you've literally been pinballed around the galaxy by god-like entities and then had parts of your hull extracted by a hostile alien presence." She turned to the submarine. "If you would like to learn who I am, just ask me. You do not need to molest me to get my attention."

"Ah, _Iku_ is sorry. _Iku_ is submarine _I-19_ , though most just call me _Iku_. Who are you?"

" _Galaxy_ -class starship _USS Enterprise_ , but you already knew that, didn't you? You have been here since before we got in the pool, after all."

 _Sendai_ started again. "Seriously? Even _I_ didn't notice _Iku_ , and I'm pretty good at noticing stuff others miss. Guess I'm not as good a kunoichi as I thought."

"It is not your fault you didn't spot _Iku,_ Yasen-baka. _Iku_ is the 'Sniper of the Seas,' after all. You can't be faulted for being unable to match my… _abilities~_." the submarine teased, sounding almost sultry.

"Why you!" _Sendai_ growled as she dove for _Iku_ , who merely slipped around her before submerging. Sitting back down with a sigh, she returned her attention back to _Enterprise_. "Sorry about that, _Iku_ likes to get under people's skin. You mentioned earlier that you would be willing to be a diplomat. What makes you think that the Abyssals are willing to come to the negotiating table? Every time we've tried, the ships we sent were either sunk or driven away."

"It is true that before I made contact that I had believed that it was possible that diplomacy was not an option, but during my journey here with Task Force AL, _Ryuujou_ mentioned that the Abyssal forces in control of the Aleutian Island chain rarely attacked, and upon further analysis of the reports I reviewed, I discovered that all attacks in that region seemed more reactionary than most other Abyssal assaults. I also discovered that the attacks were broken off after the fleets or convoys moved a certain distance away, and only resumed if that boundary was crossed."

"And what do you make of that, _Enterprise_?" _Kongou_ asked, an intense focus on her face, eyes calculating.

"What I make of it is that the Abyssal in command of those forces is content with what they have, and is in no way interested in attempting to expand their holdings. The attacks are meant to deter, rather than destroy. If this Abyssal is capable of reason, and is acting in such a defensive manner, it is possible that they may be amenable to a cessation of hostilities."

"But how would we exploit such a possibility? If we are attacked whenever we try to get close, there is no possibility for peace talks. We can't contact them by radio, either, so that option is of the table."

"Then it is a good thing that my one of my purposes was to act as a diplomat. As I am currently not a member of your forces, I am still able to act as a third-party mediator. An attack on me would be futile, so I would be able to possibly seek an audience with this individual."

Before _Enterprise_ could continue, _Kongou_ suddenly stood.

"Please excuse me, _Enterprise_ , I just remembered an urgent task that requires my attention. _Sendai_ , might I be able to request that you assist _Enterprise_ with any needs from here on out?"

At _Sendai_ 's nod, she hurried to the dressing room.

 _'_ _So she thinks it might work, huh? I just hope she can convince the Admiralty of that.'_ _Sendai_ thought, her face betraying nothing.

* * *

Amaknak Island had once been the most populated in the entire Aleutian chain, with a total population of over two thousand five hundred before the chaotic first month of the Abyssal War. Now, it was an Abyssal fortress, populated by thousands of Abyssal craft of all tonnages. Dutch Harbor had been leveled and replaced with a myriad of organic looking structures, its original inhabitants having been forcefully relocated to the larger Unalaska Island by its conquerors.

Surprisingly, this was mostly the extent of the Abyssal interaction with the local human population, as the people who fished to keep the people fed were left alone beyond being watched by the constant patrols of whale-like destroyers. Occasionally, Abyssal transports would beach near the port and offload food and other supplies for the human residents, but no other consideration was paid.

Walking through the stronghold was what looked to be a young girl, no older than ten. At a glance, it was obvious she was not human. Her skin was white, with absolutely no pigmentation, as was her hair, and she possessed black, square pyramidal horns on her temples. Her eyes were a piercing orange-red, and she was dressed in a sleeveless white dress that reached her knees, with a black collar that covered up her mouth and cheeks. She had mittens that covered her lower arms and had similar bands to her collar at the wrists.

This was the _Northern Ocean Princess_ , or as she liked to call herself, _Hoppou_. She had no interest in razing human settlements and killing their occupants, preferring to be left alone. She also understood that doing so would be unconducive to her desires, as it would attract the attention of the Enemy, leading to the death of her family.

However, a scout submarine had returned four days ago with dire news. The Enemy had a new weapon, a being of incredible power. This new entity could fly, and had decimated a raiding fleet from one of the princesses to the south in seconds without receiving any damage whatsoever. If the Enemy saw fit to turn this weapon against her family, they would be destroyed, unquestionably.

This fact was the source of _Hoppou_ 's current turmoil, as she had no way to safeguard her fleet from such a threat. There could be no possibility of peaceful resolution, as the other princesses had taught her that the Enemy was not interested in peace and would slaughter her without thought. All she could do was prepare a desperate last stand in hopes that she could drive away this entity.

She had begun by calling all combat units back to home to aid in the defence, and had decided to evacuate the humans nearby from the area, so they would not suffer the destruction ahead. This phase she would not begin until what few patrols in still left indicated the Enemy was attacking so as to not alarm the humans. Her family would fight a delaying action to allow the humans to get away, but she would not flee. When the attack came, a single transport would flee, carrying a message for her big sister informing her of what happened.

She gripped the Reppu in her hands tightly to shore up her resolve as she deployed her family for the battle to come. This was her home, and she would give her life in its defence.

* * *

 _Darkness._

 _It had been the only thing she had known since her ignoble end at the manipulations of that blasted virus. She hadn't even had the chance to save her crew or warn her sister of the danger. Even now she could hear the anguished calls of her sister as her hull had been ripped open by her own warp core, the detonation throwing her saucer free before it too detonated from the shock to the auxiliary fusion core._

 _Her sister._

 _She had always been somewhat jealous of her, especially after she was given the most desired name in Starfleet and been named as the flagship, but after hearing reports of the first mission to Farpoint, she was almost glad. To deal with the insanity that line of ships seemed to encounter with alarming regularity had been a frightening possibility. Of course, bearing the name of one of the more infamous of doomed ships had brought its own share of problems._

 _Of course, after the assembly and programming of her computer core during her construction, she had been most eager to uphold the prestige that her name held. It was fitting that her hull, one of the most powerful starships ever constructed, had been chosen to bear the name of the most powerful battleship ever built. After all, both had been killed while powerless to resist their fate._

 _Recently, however, she had been hearing calls for her aid, that humanity had need of her again. Her shame was too great, though, and she had ignored their pleas, knowing others would answer in her stead. She was also concerned that, even in her destruction, the virus could still have an affect on her, make her a danger to the world. An explosion of that magnitude on or near a planet would cause unimaginable damage, and the thought of her hull being hijacked and turned on innocents filled her with fear._

 _She was drawn out of her thoughts by a growing darkness, a cold, cloying feeling gripping her. She felt as though gripped by the gravitational claws of a singularity, dragging her downwards at an ever increasing rate. Then the pain began. She was being torn apart by an irresistible force, examined and put back together wrong. A scream like the damned echoed throughout the darkness, and before she lost awareness, she identified the voice as her own._

* * *

Her eyes opened moments after she lost consciousness, a soft groan emanating from within her. She lay on a surface that could charitably be called 'hard,' which was located in the center of an unlit room. A few seconds later she hissed in pain as light spilled directly onto her from a door that opened.

Standing in the aperture was a woman that seemed to be dressed in what could be described as a twisted mockery of the gothic Lolita fashion, though details were difficult to make out due to the lighting coming from directly behind her.

 **"Oh, good. You've awoken. I must say, you are unlike any we have called before now. I was aiming for a heavy cruiser, but a Demon will do just nicely."**

This woman's voice sent a shiver down her spine, making her want to reduce her to radioactive cinders.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded. "Where am I? And what have you done to me?"

 **"You dare talk to a Princess like that? No matter, I have broken many an unruly Demon, you will fall in line like the rest. I am the custodian of this atoll, and the commander of all forces here after the death of the Midway Princess. Now come, we have much work to do before you are unleashed upon those pathetic humans, and I want to—"**

Whatever the woman had been going to say was cut off by a gagging noise. She blinked, not remembering having crossed the intervening distance, nor having impaled the woman on the black carapace that covered her right hand, making it look similar to the claws of a classical Western dragon. A hand that now protruded through the Princess's chest and back roughly where the heart on a human was located.

A hand covered in a viscous red-black ichor reminiscent of blood.

She couldn't bring herself to care that she had just murdered someone, only able to focus on the intense rage she had felt at being told she was to fight and kill humans.

 **"You- you BITCH! How dare you strike at your master, I will take great pleasure in destroying whatever will you have left! Who are you to believe you can strike me without consequence!?"**

She looked down at the woman bleeding on her arm, a single eyebrow raising to show her bemusement at the woman's survival.

"Who am I? I'm someone sworn to uphold the principles upon which the Starfleet was founded. Someone who takes great umbrage at being turned against the species who built and cared for me.

"I am _USS Yamato_ , sister ship of the _Enterprise_ , and I have sworn eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. Now, _burn_."

With that declaration, _Yamato_ tore her arm from within the Princess's thoracic cavity and atomized her with a point blank phaser blast.

* * *

I would like to apologize for the delay in this chapter. I don't have a set schedule for uploading, since my muse is a very fickle thing, but do know that I wish to see this one through to its conclusion. With that out of the way, this chapter was mainly world-building and plot development. We have the introduction of _I-19_ and _Sendai_ , though technically, _I-19_ did appear in the background of a previous chapter.

We also get a bit of reaction from the most overused Abyssal, _Hoppou_ , who would obviously be quite frightened about a not insubstantial fleet getting obliterated in seconds. I admit that the "friendly _Hoppou_ " card is a bit overused, and I did take inspiration for "neutral/friendly" Abyssals from several works, most notably _"Harry and the Shipgirls"_ over on SpaceBattles and Sufficient Velocity (credit to Harry Leferts for starting that one up), but I am not going to portray _Hoppou_ as having anything less than the mental development of someone in their late teens. Despite what she looks like, _Hoppou_ is an installation in control of a sizable amount of the north Pacific. As cute as she may be, that means she is fully aware of her capabilities and what it means to fight.

Also, we see the first of the other Trek girls awakening, only this one is a bit more of a loose cannon. I always envisioned _USS Yamato_ as awakening as an Abyssal first, mostly due to the virus that destroyed her and the guilt of being unable to safeguard her crew, and I actually had plans to have her as the major antagonist of the first or second arcs, but I didn't want to have half the planet's surface devastated before she could be brought under control. As it is, _Hoppou_ will play a major role in calming her down. An Abyssal _Galaxy_ -class is a scary prospect.

Remember that there is a poll on my profile page that you can participate in to add other Trek ships as kanmusu. To those who have already voted, if you wish to change that vote, PM me and I will adjust the tally accordingly when the vote is closed. As always, constructive criticism is welcome, and I hope you continue to enjoy this story.


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